This course will focus on theoretical and practical challenges for conductingquantitativeresearchinvolving individuals from more than one cultural background or ethnicity. Topics are likely to includedefining and measuringcultural constructs;equivalence and bias; developing culturally appropriate

This is an introductory course to Conducting Research Across Cultures. The topics covered willprovide you with an overview of some of the important issues and techniques in this area.

My goals forthis course are to stimulate your interest in this important emerging field of psychology, assist you infinding out what area interests you most, is most useful for your future projects

and most of all, providea challenging, thought provoking and creative space for learning and discussions. I encourage you to docomplimentary reading and to do more research on topics that interest you (especially if they are notcovered in class). I am open to suggestions for changes in the topics and content covered in class.Teaching is a complex process of multiple interactions between the teacher and students in theclassroom, and outside of the classroom. I try to keep my classroom environment friendly, two-waycommunication going, and minimize communication barriers to get the students involved in thelearning process. I strive to be a good teacher, and appreciate your feedback.

The assignments and the course topics are selected to provide you with a broad overview and developvaluable skills that areimportant for you when doing comparative research across cultural boundaries.You will have additional readings, there might be a few, so read selectively, but critically. Theassignments in particular are designed to develop your critical thinking about methods and statistics aswell as some practical skills. If you feel that you have some problems with any of these assignments ortopics, please approach me as soon as possible (latest two weeks before the deadline) and I am happy todiscuss alternatives with you.

You will notice that the

second half of thecourse is quite heavily focused on statistical techniques.Youmay find this challenging, but I will do my best to assist you in understanding the basics of each set oftechniques and how to do it in SPSS.Although it may look daunting, it is actually quite simple, can belots of fun and I assure you,if you do survey or experimental workyou will need these techniques foryour project.For this part in particular, it is important that you do your reading before class.I expectthat you are familiar with correlation, regression, t-test, ANOVA and factor analysis.

If you are interested in more qualitative methods for cultural research, other courses such as ANTH408(Ethnographic Research); SACS401 (Methods in Social Science Research) or SACS301 (Methods inSocial and Cultural Research) might be interesting for you.

The skills that you would have developed and broadened by the end of this course will be:

1.

Skills for developing and conducting

a cross-cultural study, paying attention to cultural issues

and problems during the whole research process

2.

Understand the issues of equivalence and bias for cross-cultural comparative research

3.

The ability to critically evaluate research involving more than one cultural group and identifystrengths and weaknesses of the design, results and interpretation of the study

This text is not cross-culturally focussed, but is one of the best text to get a firm (and fun)understanding of statistics with SPSS. Highly recommended for your research work. It willdefinitely helpyou when you start analyzing your own data.

Fischer, R. (2004).Standardization to Account for Cross-Cultural Response Bias: AClassification of Score Adjustment Procedures and Review of Research in JCCP.Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 35, 263-282.

The submission of late assignments is annoying and is strongly discouraged. A penalty of one grade perday (e.g., B down to B-) from the hand in date will be deducted from the final grade for any latework.To get extensions youneed to talk to me BEFORE the due date and I will consider your circumstances.In general, you need to provideofficial certificates (medical etc.), where possible.

Mandatory Course Requirement

Submission of three assignmentsand you need to obtain at least 50% in two of the three assignments.

Communication of additional information

Additional information or information on changes will beannounced in class or via e-mail.

I welcome you to this course, I look forward to working with you and I wish you a successful andinspiring study.

Ron Fischer

Assignment Information

Assignment 1

Choose one particular psychological concept or process of interest to you. Conduct a literature searchon this concept or process. Based on your literature review, propose a small cross-cultural project.Outline the research design. Discuss the appropriate level of the concept or process and identify issuesrelated to equivalence and bias.Design a short survey suitable to addressing your research question.Write your own items.Translate the instrument where necessary and provide information on thelanguage choice and translation process.Identify and justify your selection of samples.

Skills for developing and conducting a cross-cultural study, paying attention to cultural issues andproblems during the whole research process



Understand the issues of equivalence and bias for cross-cultural comparative research



The ability to critically evaluate research involving more than one cultural group and identifystrengths and weaknessesof the design, results and interpretation of the study

Assignment 2

Using the data provided

in class,investigate the structure of the instruments across cultural groups.Compare the structure

using factor analysis. Conduct one level-oriented test(either regression orANOVA)across cultural groups. Report all your results in an appropriate form (e.g., standard methodsand results section of empirical papers). Provide tables and graphs in APA style where appropriate.Discuss whether and how response styles might influence the results that you found (e.g., in the form ofa short discussion section).

The ability to critically evaluate research involving more than one cultural group and identifystrengths and weaknesses of the design, results and interpretation of the study



Statistical skills for analyzingcross-cultural data sets

Assignment 3

Choosing onetopic of interest for you, write a detailed research proposal that you would be able toconduct. Provide a brief and concise literature review. Develop some research hypotheses or questions.Identify the

appropriate level of constructs or processes, discuss equivalence and bias issues. Describeyour methodology in detail. Discuss the selection of your samples (cultural groups, participants), yourresearch design and language issues. Include translations of your instrument or interview schedule anddiscuss their adequacy. Provide a detailed discussion of statistical techniques that you will use foranalyzing the data collected. Identify potential threats to your results.

Use this assignment, you may get good feedback for your planned Masters project.Work on thisassignment continuously from the first week, this assignment can not be written within a fewdays!



The assignment must be submitted at the beginning of class, week 12.

Objectives



Skills for developing and conducting a cross-cultural study, paying attention to cultural issues andproblems during the whole research process



Understand the issues of equivalence and bias for cross-cultural comparative research



The ability to critically evaluate research involving more than one cultural group and identifystrengths and weaknesses of thedesign, results and interpretation of the study



Statistical skills for analyzing cross-cultural data sets

GENERAL INFORMATION

General University policies and statutes

Students should familiarise themselves with the University's policies and statutes, particularly those regardingassessment and course of study requirements, and formal academic grievance procedures.

Student Conduct and Staff Conduct

The Statute on Student Conduct together with the Policy on Staff Conduct ensure that members of theUniversity community are able to work, learn, study and participate in the academic and social aspects of theUniversity's life in an atmosphere of safety and respect. The Statute on Student Conduct contains informationon what conduct is prohibited and what steps can be taken if there is a complaint. For queries about complaintprocedures under the Statute on Student Conduct, contact the Facilitator and Disputes Advisor. This Statute isavailable in the Faculty Student Administration Office or on the website at:www.vuw.ac.nz/policy/StudentConduct

The policy on Staff Conduct can be found on the VUW website at:

www.vuw.ac.nz/policy/StaffConduct

Academic Grievances

If you have any academic problems with your course you should talk to the tutor or lecturer concerned or, if youare not satisfied with the result of that meeting, see the Head of School or the Associate Dean (Students) of yourFaculty. Class representatives are available to assist you with this process. If, after trying the above channels,you are still unsatisfied, formal grievance procedures can be invoked. These are set out in the AcademicGrievance Policy which is published

on the VUW website:www.vuw.ac.nz/policy/AcademicGrievances

Academic Integrity and Plagiarism

Academic integrity is about honesty–

put simply it meansno cheating. All members of the Universitycommunity are responsible for upholding academic integrity, which means staff and students are expected tobehave honestly, fairly and with respect for others at all times.

Plagiarism is a form of cheating which undermines academic integrity. Plagiarism isprohibitedat Victoria.

The University defines plagiarism as follows:

Plagiarism is presenting someone else’s work as if it were your own, whether you mean to or not.

‘Someone else’s work’ means anything that is not your own idea, even if it is presented in your own style. Itincludes material from books, journals or any other printed source, the work of other students or staff,information from the Internet, software programmes and other electronic material, designs and ideas. It alsoincludesthe organisation or structuring of any such material.

Plagiarism is not worth the risk.

Any enrolled student found guilty of plagiarism will be subject to disciplinary procedures under the Statute onStudent Conduct(www.vuw.ac.nz/policy/studentconduct) and may be penalised severely. Consequences ofbeing found guilty of plagiarism can include:



an oral or written warning



suspension from class or university



cancellation of your mark for an assessment or a fail grade for the course.

Find out more about plagiarism and how to avoid it, on the University’s website at:www.vuw.ac.nz/home/studying/plagiarism.html

Students with Disabilities

The University has a policy of reasonable accommodation of the needs of students with disabilities. The policyaims to give students with disabilities an equal opportunity with all other students to demonstrate their abilities.If you have a disability, impairment or chronic medical condition (temporary, permanent or recurring) that mayimpact on your ability to participate, learn and/or achieve in lectures and tutorials or in meeting the courserequirements, then please contact the Course Coordinator as early in the course as possible. Alternatively youmay wish to approach a Student Adviser from Disability Support Services to confidentially discuss yourindividual needs and the options and support that are available. Disability Support Services are located on Level1, Robert Stout Building, tel 463-6070, email:disability@vuw.ac.nz. The name of your School’s DisabilityLiaison Person can be obtained from the School Administrative Assistant or the School Prospectus.

Student Support

Staff at Victoria want students' learning experiences at the University to be positive. If your academic progressis causing you concern, the following staff members will either help you directly or quickly put you in contactwith someone who can.

Staff member

Location

Science, and

Architecture and Design

Liz Richardson

Deputy Dean (Equity)

Cotton Building, room 150

FHSS

Ann McDonald,

Student Support Co-ordinator

2 Wai-te-ata Road

Law

Kirstin Harvey

Old Govt Building,room 103

Commerce andAdministration

Dr Colin Jeffcoat

Railway West Wing, room 119

Kaiwawao Maori

Liz Rawhiti

Old Kirk, room 007

Manaaki Pihipihinga

Melissa Dunlop

14 Kelburn Pde, room 109D

Victoria International

Anne Cronin

10 Kelburn Pde, room 202

The

Student Services Group is also available to provide a variety of support and services. Find out more atwww.vuw.ac.nz/st_services/

or emailstudent-services@vuw.ac.nz

VUWSA employs two Education Coordinators who deal with academic problems and provide support, adviceand advocacy services, as well as organising class representatives and faculty delegates. The Education Officeis located on the ground floor, Student Union Building, phone 463 6983 or 463 6984, emaileducation@vuwsa.org.nz